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Farming for Perfection in the Wines of Napa's Michael Mondavi
Rob Jr., Dina, and Michael Mondavi in NapaJoe Roberts. Rob Mondavi, Jr. is upset. Moderately. It’s almost difficult to imagine why, given the sunny day, and the subsequently stunning Napa Valley view from his family’s Animo vineyard on Atlas Peak. But moderately upset he is.
Rethinking Rioja Crianza Aging Potential (in West Chester)
In between bites of grilled chicken pita BLT at Four Dogs Tavern a few weeks ago, I looked up across the table at fellow Pennsylvania-based wine educator Bob Trimble. Chew, chew, chew. Swallow. Lift of the glass, sip, gulp. Smile.
History in the Making: a 40 Year Dry Creek Vineyard Zinfandel Retrospective
2012 may very well be remembered as the year of 40 when it comes to California wine. Aside from importer Kermit Lynch celebrating the 40th anniversary of his Berkley area wine shop that year, three venerable California producers also celebrated their 40th business birthdays in 2012: Silver Oak, Jordan and Dry Creek Vineyard. WHich also, of course, means that they’re dast approaching their 50th!
Winemaking Craft and Urban Gumption Power Ventura's Four Brix Winery
Depending on who you are, California’s Ventura County will spark up a number of mental images: beach stay-cations; Tony Stark’s mansion; a place to refill the gas tank en route to wine country in Northern California.
Putting Wine and Chocolate Pairing to the Test in Philadelphia
Time and time again I find myself coming back to a conclusion that is almost as certain in the wine and food pairing world as death and taxes are to the “real” world: Most wine and chocolate pairings simply DO NOT work.
Chardonnay Is the Bread & Butter for Sonoma's Chalk Hill
Like this author, Chalk Hill Estate Vineyards was born in 1972, predating the official indoctrination of the Chalk Hill AVA. And thus forevermore Chalk Hill wines will slightly confuse would-be wine buyers who, upon picking up a bottle, wonder why the name Chalk Hill is listed twice on the label. You know, the way that MTV videos (back when they actually showed music videos) would put the name of the song, album, and artist in the bottom corner, which was always funny when they were all the same… like “Big Country” from the album “Big Country” by the band “Big Country”… OK, I am feeling really old right now….
History - and Freedom - at Australia's Langmeil Winery
Most of the time people use “freedom” when they really mean “liberty” (the latter of which, unlike the former, constitutes non-contradictory inherent states of being and is actually the idea most people have in mind when they talk about the principles upon which the USA was founded). And when I visited what’s believed to be the oldest surviving shiraz vineyard in the world, first planted in 1843 by Christian Auricht, I had freedom on my mind. The name of Aubricht’s 3.5 acre alluvial loam, red clay, limestone and ironstone Tanunda vineyard – now tended by Barossa producer Langmeil – is not only poignant but also apt (and, I’d add, technically correct!): The Freedom 1843 Shiraz Vineyard.
Dining In with Napa Valley’s Black Stallion
One thing that the Covid pandemic has done to us wine media types is essentially shut down the whole “visit a producer in person and break bread over wine and dinner” thing that the wine business loves to do. That’s especially true of the Napa Valley wine business. In that vein, I admired the gumption and ingenuity of Napa’s Black Stallion, who have been going all-out in organizing tastings, even to the point of doing public ones that involve their customers. A case in point of that ingenuity: their invite to me to have them send me dinner from a local restaurant, along with samples of their current releases, to have a virtual sort of dinner meeting with head winemaker Ralf Holdenried.
Melding the Old and the New at Uruguay's Narbona Winery
In Carmelo, about three hours drive from the bustling city of Montevideo in Uruguay, along the river that divides the country from Argentina, there exists the picturesque hamlet of Narbona, the kind of place with such overwhelming quantities of irony that it causes story-relating fingers like mine to nearly freeze at the keyboard.
Klein Constantia Battles to Hold on to Winemaking's Past in South Africa
“This would be impressive, really, if you could see any of it.”. We’re driving through a winding, makeshift “road” of mud and ditches in the hills of Constantia. I’m wincing in sciatic pain with every bump, which come approximately forty nanoseconds apart courtesy of the damage done by a South African winter of intense rainfall and flooding. The impossibly young winemaker Matthew Day is my guide on a day in which the clouds have decided to settle almost directly on top of Klein Constantia’s mountainous estate vineyards.
Putting DIAM Closures to the Test at the 2021 Wine Conversations Tasting
DIAM 2021 tasting - redsJoe Roberts. The latest recap of what I hope will soon be a thing of the past – COVID-era Shelter-in-Place Zoom tastings in lieu of being able to actually get together in real life in the same place – has us revisiting some old friends. Several, in fact.
Putting Two of France's Best Older Wines to the Test
It’s undeniable that the last several months have been, by and large, odd. Sheltering in place during a global pandemic hasn’t exactl;y been the best of scenarios for those of us who are fairly social creatures. But it hasn’t all been all bad. Personally, there have been several aspects of the last several months that have been fortuitous enough to justify breaking out some of the good stuff, wine-wise. And, I do mean the good stuff.
Chianti for Collectors: Tasting Tuscany's Tenuta di Arceno
Ah, Tuscany... Few wine regions have quite the same impact on wine lovers and casual wine drinkers alike. I mean, Tuscany is one of the very few places on Earth, after all, where the scenery and setting look pretty much identical to what you imagined from daydreaming about it after looking at a postcard, or a painting of its gorgeous landscape.
Modern Wines from Ancient Tradition: Italy's Casa Paldin
“We try to respect as much as we can each grape.”. R-E-S-P-E-C-T seems to be the name of the game for Italy’s Casa Paldin. At least, that’s the sense I got after (virtually) meeting and tasting with Casa Paldin’s Francesca Paladin recently. Casa Paldin was founded in the Veneto in 1962 by her grandfather Valentino, though they now operate throughout northeastern Italy, as well as in Tuscany, and Franciacorta in Lombardy.
Practical Minimalism Drives Viticulture at Italy's Marangona Lugana
Alessandro Cutolo kind of looks like a viking. Aside from close proximity to a body of water (in this case, the Italian Lake Garda), however, the heavy-handed Old Norse warrior comparison fizzles out completely. Because at the crossing of the Veneto and Lombardia regions, Cutolo, as owner and winemaker of Lugana’s Marangona, crafts elegant, svelte whites without even a hint of the roughshod among them; thanks in part to what could only be described as a minimalist approach.
100 Years Young: the Wines of Italy's Selva Capuzza
Like most musicians (ask me how I know), Luca Formentini has a day job. That job would be helping to helm his family’s wine business in Brescia: Selva Capuzza. As far as day jobs go, the one with an office that’s actually a picturesque vineyard spot about four kilometers from the shores of Lake Garda, in the heart of Lombardy’s Lugana winemaking territory doesn’t seem so bad. To wit: he soft-spoken (by Italian standards) Formentini usually has a wide smile plastered on his face. After tasting his family’s Lugana offerings, you might have one, too.
High-End Sipping from a Tourist Town: Lugana's Cà Maiol Wines
Cà Maiol sparkling wine in developmentJoe Roberts. Walter Contato knew potential when he saw it. Like an inordinate number of Italians before and after him, this successful Milan-born businessman took holidays in the sometimes-too-charming-for-words Lake Garda town of Sirmione. As an inordinate number of successful businessmen seem to want to still do, Contato eventually decided that he wanted to become a wine producer, and chose the site of his presumably favorite vacation spot – home to the Lugana wine region – as the place he would try his vinous hand.
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a.k.a. Joe Roberts. Dad, wine-writer-guy, wine critic, wine competition judge, author, bassist, free-thinker, & occasional hiney-shaker. Opening up highly-pressurized cans of whoop-a** on the wine industry since 2007. Joe is a Certified Specialist of Wine, and the author of Wine Taster’s Guide: Drink and Learn with 30 Wine Tastings.
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